Fingerprint reader

ABSTRACT

A fingerprint reader includes a display screen composed of an array of energy emitting pixels covered by a transparent cover, at least one sensor coupled along an edge of the display screen, a display driver directing the array of energy emitting pixels of the display screen to illuminate in a predetermined sequence, and a microprocessor in communication with the display driver and the at least one sensor. The microprocessor knows the location of the energy emitting pixel being illuminated and the specific time at which the illumination occurs. In use, and when at least one finger is placed on the transparent cover and the display driver is activated, energy from each energy emitting pixel sequentially illuminated is reflected off the fingerprint to the at least one sensor. The energy received at the at least one sensor is at different intensity levels depending upon the ridges and valleys of the at least one fingerprint. The at least one sensor sends a signal to the microprocessor regarding the energy intensity level, from which the microprocessor creates a fingerprint image as the energy emitting pixels are sequentially illuminated.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. Non Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 15/359,933 entitled “FINGERPRINT READER,” filed onNov. 23, 2016, which is currently pending, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/258,863, entitled“REMOTE SENSING FINGERPRINT READER FOR OPERATION ON DIGITAL DISPLAYSCREENS,” filed Nov. 23, 2015.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a display screen allowing forrecordation of a fingerprint placed anywhere on the display screen, anda method to record a fingerprint anywhere on a display screen withoutaffecting the display function. The present invention enables acellphone to read a fingerprint when it is placed anywhere on thedisplay screen. A cellphone maker no longer needs to allocate space onthe front or back of the cellphone for a discrete fingerprint readingdevice.

2. Description of the Related Art

Identification is an important issue in our digital, fast moving world.The problem lies in how to securely identify people. Credit cards can belost or stolen. Picture identification cards suffer from inattention bythe people that guard the door. Several years ago a top secret facilityhad several of the employees replace the pictures on their badge withcartoon characters (Mickey Mouse, Daffy Duck etc.) who then successfullyentered the top secret facility for several days. The fundamental issueis to assure that the identification card or credit card actuallybelongs to the person representing themselves to make a purchase or togain entry.

Fingerprints have been used for identification through much of recordedhistory. They are found on Babylonian clay tablets, on the walls ofEgyptian tombs, on Minoan, Greek, and Chinese pottery, as well as ontiles from ancient Rome. Many of these fingerprints were likelydeposited unintentionally, some are decorations, but researchers believethat some fingerprints found on pottery were impressed so deeply anddeliberately that they were meant to uniquely identify the artist orowner.

Several different styles and types of fingerprint readers exist, but allshare the same goal, that is, to accurately record the unique featuresdefined by the friction ridges (and valleys) on the finger. Fingerprintsare identified by three levels of features. The flow of the ridges(Level-1) is generally classified as an arch, loop, or whorl. Level-2features describe significant changes along individual frictionridges—primarily bifurcations and endings. These Level-2 features arereferred to as minutiae and are the primary means of identification incurrent implementations. Features present within and between thefriction ridges are referred to as Level-3 features. Level-3 featuresinclude pores, scars, width changes, shape changes, creases, breaks,etc.

A modern fingerprint sensor is an electronic device used to capture adigital representation of a fingerprint, that is, a fingerprint image.Many competing technologies exist for collecting fingerprintimages—pressure sensors, capacitive sensors, optical sensors, andthermal sensors, to name a few. While the “raw” captured fingerprintimage can be stored for general pattern matching, it is common todigitally process the raw fingerprint image and create a more efficientbiometric template (a collection of extracted features) which is storedand used for matching. Whatever physical properties are used to capturethe fingerprint image, it is critical to collect a high-quality (clarity& contrast) image of the fingerprint because the image quality is highlycorrelated to overall fingerprint system performance (see NIST 8034Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation [FpVTE2012]).

If the goal is to sense a fingerprint placed anywhere on a displayscreen, then a buried sensor array must exist across the entire displayscreen, and the costs and complexities are high. The most commonly usedsensing technology is currently capacitive, and sensing electricalcharges is most effective when the sensor array is located very close tothe surface of the display screen. This drives unrealistic materialthicknesses and puts the sensor array in front of the LEDs andinterferes with the display function.

Direct axial/optical solutions solve issues involving close proximity tothe screen, but retain the need for a large, high-density sensor array,and also require micro-lensing and increased thickness. They must see“through” the regular illuminating layers of the display, so thatrequires special materials with unique optical and electrical propertiesto be used in various layers throughout the display.

Optical fingerprint imaging involves capturing a digital image of theprint using visible, UV, or Infrared light. This type of sensor is, inessence, a specialized digital camera. In most implementations, thesensor is built with a clear touch plate onto which the finger ispressed. Under the touch plate, a light source and a camera sensor arearranged strategically with various optical elements to focus a clear,high-contrast image upon the camera sensor.

The procedure used by all modern fingerprint scanners to capture afingerprint using a sensor entails sliding, rolling, or touching thefinger on a sensing area which, according to the physical principle inuse (in this case, optical), captures the difference between valleys andridges. It is important that the optical elements of the image capturedevice preserve a clear, accurate, and high contrast representation ofthe fingerprint to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). Onephysical phenomenon often used in optical fingerprint readers toincrease contrast and S/N ratio is Total Internal Reflection (TIR)—andan ancillary property—Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR).

Total Internal Reflection is an optical phenomenon that occurs when aray of light strikes a boundary at an angle larger than a particularcritical angle with respect to the normal to the surface. If therefractive index is lower on the other side of the boundary and theincident angle is greater than the critical angle, and all of the lightis reflected back into the original medium. This can only occur wherelight travels from a medium with a higher [n1=higher refractive index]to one with a lower refractive index [n2=lower refractive index]. Forexample, it will occur when passing from glass to air, but not whenpassing from air to glass. The Critical Angle is the angle of incidenceabove which total internal reflection occurs. The angle of incidence ismeasured with respect to the normal at the refractive boundary.

An important side effect of total internal reflection is the propagationof an evanescent wave across the boundary surface. In TIR conditions,although the entire incident wave is reflected back into the originatingmedium, there is some penetration into the second medium at theboundary. This wave in the optically less dense medium is known as theevanescent wave.

If a third medium with a higher refractive index than the low-indexsecond medium is placed close to the interface between the first mediumand the second medium, the evanescent wave will pass energy across thesecond into the third medium. This process is called “Frustrated” TotalInternal Reflection (FTIR). The FTIR phenomenon occurs only when thespacing between the two higher index media is small (on the order of 10sof nanometers). The dimensions of the ridges and valleys in afingerprint are larger than the spacing necessary for the interactionthat creates FTIR. Thus, as a finger approaches and touches a glassplate, light is absorbed and re-radiated in all directions where thefriction ridges touch the glass, but where the valleys have a few tenthsof a millimeter above the glass, all light rays that strike the surfaceof the touch plate above the critical angle are reflected.

When the touch area is viewed below the glass (or other transparentcover) of the display screen, the areas where the ridges touch the glassare one color and intensity, and the valleys are another. The ridges canappear dramatically lighter or darker than the valleys depending on theorientation of the light source and the viewing angle. In either case,this resultant high-contrast image is ideal for the typicaldigital-camera-based optical finger-print readers.

A simple, common characteristic of most fingerprint sensors, whateverthe method of operation, is that the finger must contact with the sensordevice directly. For the cellphone application in particular this is asignificant disadvantage because cellphone users prefer to use afingerprint reader on the same surface that they view (the screen side).Users also prefer large viewing areas. However, all current “screenside” cellphone fingerprint reader solutions require space on the faceof the cellphone exclusively for the fingerprint sensor.

In addition, there is a strong user and manufacturer preference to havea uniform cover glass over the entire face of the cellphone. In fact,some cellphone designers are attempting to encapsulate the entiresurface of the cellphone in glass. The strength, scratch resistance andstiffness of the glass make it an advantageous surface material.

However, because all current fingerprint sensors (which areappropriately sized for use in cellphones) must be in direct contactwith the finger, the cover glass must have a hole for the sensor to fit.The hole adds cost, presents a perimeter that must be sealed from theenvironment, and creates an area of weakness in the glass. Cellphonemanufacturers are seeking a fingerprint sensor technology that can beplaced under the cover-glass to avoid creating the hole.

An alternative approach is to scan the illumination and direct theresulting reflected light to a sensor. The power detected by the sensorcan then be used to recreate the image by scanning a display screen andchanging the intensity of the display to reflect the power detected bythe sensor. This technology is commonly used in the scanning electronmicroscope and many confocal microscope designs because the image isfree of distortions caused by focusing the image, the point of view ofthe image is from the illumination source and the depth of field isenormous compared to other imaging techniques. Relative to fingerprints,this method of creating a fingerprint image was used in U.S. Pat. No.4,553,837, entitled “ROLL FINGERPRINT PROCESSING APPARATUS,” by DanielH. Marcus in 1983.

Another optical system for scanning a fingerprint is disclosed in TaiwanPatent Application 104208311. The '311 application discloses a systemwherein the finger is illuminated from below the sensor and the image isprojected onto a camera chip adjacent to the sensor. FTIR is used toenhance the image of the ridges so that the ridges are bright and thevalleys are dark. If the sensor is optically connected to thecover-glass of a cellphone (by bonding to the cover-glass usingoptically clear adhesive with a matching index of refraction forinstance) the glass becomes part of the sensor. Electronically, thisinvention focuses the image onto a digital camera, and the sensor pixelson the camera chip are scanned to create the digital image. Theresultant image can be processed to remove distortions and identify theminutia in order to determine a positive identification of thefingerprint. The point of view of the image will appear as if viewedfrom the left. The image is naturally compressed along the length of thearrow but is full size in the third dimension. Care must be taken withthe optics to ensure that the camera chip is maximally utilized. Eventhen, the image resolution in pixels per inch may not be symmetrical.The image distortions are geometry related and can be corrected to someextent in software, but the resultant image is unlikely to be fullycorrected and will not have a true one-to-one relationship to theoriginal fingerprint. Also, manufacturing tolerances limit how thin thestructure can be made.

Attempts to solve problems associated with sensing fingerprints througha display screen of, for example, a cellphone involve substantialchanges to the core display materials. Many of these materials areexpensive and capital intensive. The additional layers increase thethickness of the devices. The straightforward approach requires thathigh-density arrays of sensors be placed across the screen.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0036065 discloses using alayer of sensors under the display to allow fingerprints to be read allacross the display without screwing up the way the phone looks whenyou're using it. This published application describes adding a layer“under” the display to read the fingerprint. This is different from thecommon approach used by most teams working to find a way to take afingerprint from the screen. Most teams are trying to find a way to adda layer “above” the display LED/LCD layers so the sensors can be veryclose to the finger. The trick is to make that layer completelytransparent so the image from the display is not corrupted. That's beendifficult to achieve.

With regard to early art on using the display to illuminate thefingerprint for reading, Apple has attempted to use the pixels in thedisplay as “sensing pixels”. See U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2015/0178542, entitled “Finger biometric sensor including drive signallevel updating and related methods.”

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0036065, entitled“Fingerprint Sensor in an Electronic Device” discloses sensingfingerprints directly on the screen from multiple fingers and mentionsultra-sonic sensing. While the ultra-sonic concept is only thing outthere that is even remotely close to the present invention it is notvery close except it likely doesn't require physical sensors tocorrespond 1-to-1 with the detail desired in the fingerprint image.

Still further, the size of the fingerprint sensor used on cellphones isdetermined by a trade-off of increasing reliability (which requireslarge sensing area) and decreasing cost (which increases with sensingarea). Present sensors on cellphones are as small as possible whilestill providing sufficient reliability as required by the cellphoneusers, which is relatively low. However, in order to provide sufficientsecurity for significant financial transactions the cellphonefingerprint sensor reliability will have to be at least as reliable asthe identification chip system being introduced in credit cards. Thiswill require significantly larger fingerprint sensor size—area that issimply not available on cellphones. By having the entire screenavailable to be a fingerprint sensor there is no longer a practicalrestriction on the size of the fingerprint sensor.

With the foregoing in mind, there are no existing full-screenfingerprint solutions at this time. All known potential solutionsinvolve adding materials or layers to the display stack and they includethousands or millions of micro-sensors to measure the details of thefingerprint. The present invention avoids all the issues of the priorart by dramatically reducing the number of sensors required andoptionally allowing the sensor elements to be relocated from the area ofthe display to the perimeter and utilizing sequential energy pulses andaccurate timing to build a fingerprint image. The device has the abilityto scan the entire screen to detect the location of a finger in contactof the screen and measure the intricate features of a fingerprint.Through the remainder of this application, this system is referred to asthe remote sensing fingerprint reader.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide afingerprint reader including a display screen composed of an array ofenergy emitting pixels covered by a transparent cover, at least onesensor coupled along an edge of the display screen, a display driverdirecting the array of energy emitting pixels of the display screen toilluminate in a predetermined sequence, and a microprocessor incommunication with the display driver and the at least one sensor. Themicroprocessor knows the location of the energy emitting pixel beingilluminated and the specific time at which the illumination occurs. Inuse, and when at least one finger is placed on the transparent cover andthe display driver is activated, energy from each energy emitting pixelsequentially illuminated is reflected off the fingerprint to the atleast one sensor. The energy received at the at least one sensor is atdifferent intensity levels depending upon the ridges and valleys of theat least one fingerprint. The at least one sensor sends a signal to themicroprocessor regarding the energy intensity level, from which themicroprocessor creates a fingerprint image as the energy emitting pixelsare sequentially illuminated.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader including a memory for storing the fingerprint image created bythe microprocessor.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader including an A/D converter positioned between the at least onesensor and the microprocessor for converting analog signals generated bythe at least one sensor to digital signals used by the microprocessor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the transparent cover is glass.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the at least one sensor is a photo-sensor measuringenergy intensity levels from the array of energy emitting pixels. It isanother object of the present invention to provide a fingerprint readerwherein the transparent cover is flat.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the transparent cover is curved.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader including an energy directing structure in which the photo-sensoris positioned, the energy directing structure being positioned in asurface of the transparent cover and including optics allowing forreflection of energy coming from the display screen to the photo-sensor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the at least one sensor includes a plurality of sensorslocated at edges of the transparent cover.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader including a touch sensor used to locate placement of the at leastone finger on the transparent cover.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader including lenses or occlusion features to facilitate optimalillumination of the at least one finger.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein energy received at the at least sensor is filtered toprevent unwanted energy from entering the at least one sensor.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the energy is filtered based on the timing of lightreceived at the at least one sensor from the illuminated energy emittingpixel.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the array of energy emitting pixels is contained in alayer that is made reflective in the frequencies of interest tofingerprint detection.

It is a further an object of the present invention to provide afingerprint reader wherein several neighboring energy emitting pixelsare illuminated together as a group.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein the energy emitting pixels in areas of the display screennot used for the fingerprint reading are turned off when the fingerprintreader is active.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a fingerprintreader wherein each energy emitting pixel is illuminated multiple timesto create a time-averaged fingerprint image.

It is a further an object of the present invention to provide afingerprint reader wherein the color of the energy received at the atleast one sensor can be measured and included in the signal sent to themicroprocessor.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a readerincluding a screen composed of an array of energy emitting pixelscovered by a transparent cover, at least one sensor coupled along anedge of the screen, a driver directing the array of energy emittingpixels of the screen to illuminate in a sequence, and a microprocessorin communication with the driver and the at least one sensor, whereinthe microprocessor knows the location of the energy emitting pixel beingilluminated and the specific time at which the illumination occurs. Whenat least one finger is placed on the transparent cover and the driver isactivated, energy from each energy emitting pixel sequentiallyilluminated is reflected off the fingerprint to the at least one sensor.The energy received at the at least one sensor is at different intensitylevels depending upon the ridges and valleys of the at least onefingerprint. The at least one sensor sends a signal to themicroprocessor regarding the energy intensity level, from which themicroprocessor creates a fingerprint image as the energy emitting pixelsare sequentially illuminated. It is another object of the presentinvention to provide a touch position reader including a screen composedof an array of energy emitting pixels covered by a transparent cover, atleast one sensor coupled along an edge of the screen, a driver directingthe array of energy emitting pixels of the screen to illuminate in asequence, and a microprocessor in communication with the driver and theat least one sensor, wherein the microprocessor knows the location ofthe energy emitting pixel being illuminated and the specific time atwhich the illumination occurs. When at least one finger is placed on thetransparent cover and the driver is activated, energy from each energyemitting pixel sequentially illuminated is reflected off the finger tothe at least one sensor. The energy received at the at least one sensoris at different intensity levels depending upon the position of thefinger on the screen. The at least one sensor sends a signal to themicroprocessor regarding the energy intensity level, from which themicroprocessor determines the position of the finger on the screen.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description when viewed inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, which set forth certainembodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cellphone including the presentfingerprint reader.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of a fingerprint reader in accordance with thepresent invention showing the various functional elements.

FIG. 3 is schematic of a fingerprint reader as shown in FIG. 2 with afingerprint valley illuminated.

FIG. 4 is a schematic of the fingerprint reader shown in FIG. 2 with afingerprint ridge illuminated.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing reflective properties as light energy asprojected on a finger.

FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are side cross-sectional views showing operation ofa fingerprint reader in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic of an alternate embodiment of the fingerprintreader.

FIG. 11 is a detailed perspective view of the energy directing structureshown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a schematic of an alternate embodiment of the fingerprintreader shown in FIG. 10.

FIGS. 13, 13A, 13B and 13C are schematics and graphs showing simulationresults relating to the present fingerprint reader.

FIG. 14 is a schematic of an alternate embodiment of the presentfingerprint reader.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are views of a cellphone including alternate embodimentsof the president fingerprint reader.

FIGS. 17 and 18 are schematics showing an arrangement of sub-pixels andphoto-sensors in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a schematic showing an array of sub-pixels in accordance withthe present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic showing a light emitting pixel with a reflectivesurface along the substrate thereof for use in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 21 is a schematic of a light emitting pixel showing a lensintegrated therewith for use in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a schematic of a light emitting pixel with occlusion membersfor use in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a schematic of an array of light emitting pixel for bothdisplay purposes and fingerprint reading purposes in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 24 is a perspective view of a fingerprint reader in accordance withan alternate embodiment.

FIGS. 25 and 26 are schematics of a touch position reader in accordancewith the present invention, wherein FIG. 25 shows a light emitting pixelaligned with a finger and FIG. 26 shows a light emitting pixel notaligned with the finger.

FIG. 27 is a schematic of a light emitting pixel with occlusion membersfor use in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein.It should be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments aremerely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in variousforms. Therefore, the details disclosed herein are not to be interpretedas limiting, but merely as a basis for teaching one skilled in the arthow to make and/or use the invention

As stated above, and with reference to the embodiment disclosed in FIGS.1 to 9, the present invention provides a remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 allowing for recordation of a fingerprint placed anywhere onthe display screen 12 of a cellphone 14 (or smartphone, tablet,touchscreen laptop, etc.) and a method to record a fingerprint anywhereon the display screen 12 without affecting the display function.Specifically, the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 enables thecellphone 14 (or other electronic device integrated in accordance withthe present invention) to read a fingerprint 100 when it is placedanywhere on the display screen 12. Cellphone makers, therefore, nolonger need to allocate space on the front or back of the cellphone 14for a discrete fingerprint reading device.

The remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 of the present invention scansan illumination source across the fingerprint 100 and measures thereflected and re-radiated optical energy at each scanning location (seeFIGS. 3 and 4) to create a model of the fingerprint 100. In accordancewith the present remote sensing fingerprint reader 10, when a finger 102is placed on the display screen 12 of the cellphone 14, it isilluminated by the display screen 12 and the reflections from thefingerprint 100 are recorded by a sensor(s) 16 at the perimeter of thedisplay screen 12. As a result of the remote sensing fingerprint reader10, a fingerprint 100 may be recorded by the display screen 12 withoutmaking any changes to the display screen 12 itself.

While the present disclosure is directed to reading of a singlefingerprint placed upon the display screen, it is appreciated the remotesensing fingerprint reader can record multiple fingerprintspseudo-simultaneously. Where it is desired to read multiple fingerprintspseudo-simultaneously, the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 reads attwo or more areas on the display screen 12 for fingerprints based on thelocations of the fingers ascertained by the display screen 12 throughthe utilization of well-known touch screen technology. The use ofmultiple fingerprints for verification purposes adds an extra level ofsecurity as it adds an additional identification element to the processof identifying the user of the cellphone (referred to commonly as“multi-factor authentication”). Still further, and in conjunction withthe use of multiple fingerprints, the relative position of twofingerprints may also be applied in the identification process; that is,security is stronger if the relative alignment, proximity, or angle ofthe two prints is also read and recorded. For example, for bankingtransactions of $10,000 or more, the cellphone could require that theuser place both middle fingers on the display screen 12 in specificlocations. The user may also be required to have both fingers nearlytouching and pointed at 10-o'clock and 2-o'clock. That way, if someonewants to steal more than $10,000, they have to chop both of thecellphone owner's fingers off and know how to arrange them on thescreen.

More specifically, when a finger 102 is placed anywhere on the displayscreen 12, the process begins with a light emitting pixel 18 under thefingerprint being illuminated. For the purpose of this application, a“light emitting pixel” 18 (or “energy emitting pixel”) is considered tobe any pixel from which light is emitted—whether the light is createdwithin the pixel such as an LED or OLED, or light passes through thepixel as in an LCD display. Some of the light reflected off thefingerprint is trapped in the transparent cover 34 (for example, theglass top layer) of the display screen 12. A photo-sensor 16 is locatedat the edge of the transparent cover 34, and the photo-sensor 16measures the energy (or change in energy) from the reflection orre-radiated energy at the point of interaction. The reflected energywhen the light emitting pixel 18 is under a friction ridge is differentfrom the reflected energy when the light emitting pixel 18 is under a“valley” between the ridges. By sequentially lighting the light emittingpixels 18 under the finger 102, measuring the reflected energy at eachlight emitting pixel 18, noting the difference between the frictionridges and valleys, and knowing the location of each light emittingpixel 18, a map/image of the fingerprint can be built (see FIGS. 3 and4). The remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 does not require newlayers, or high numbers of sensors. It is, therefore, lower cost, lessvolume, and will not affect the display.

Briefly, and in accordance with a remote sensing fingerprint reader 10in accordance with a preferred embodiment, a display screen 12 includesan array 20 of light emitting pixels 18 covered by a transparent cover34 (usually glass). In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the lightemitting pixels 18 used in conjunction with the present remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 are the same light emitting pixels 18 used by thecellphone 14 to create images for viewing by users of the cellphone. Assuch, minimal modification will be necessary in implementing the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10 for use with current cellphones and otherelectronic devices with similar display screens. However, it isappreciated the present invention may be implemented by providing acompletely separate display screen 12 or a separate array 20 of lightemitting pixels 18. Where separate light emitting pixels are used, asdiscussed below with reference to FIG. 23, those light emitting pixelsused in conjunction with the remote sensing fingerprint reader(secondary light emitting pixels) maybe interspersed throughout thenormal “Visible” pixel array (primary light emitting pixels) or they maybe positioned on another level below or above the normal “Visible” pixelarray. For example, the separate array of pixels may generate IR or UVfrequencies that are not visible to the naked eye.

Furthermore, it is appreciated the present invention may be implementedas an independent device or module. A dedicated fingerprint readingdevice can be built using an array of energy emitting pixels 20,transparent cover 34, and the other necessary components.

At least one photo-sensor 16 is positioned along the perimeter of thedisplay screen 12. For example, the photo-sensor 16 might ultimately besimilar to the cameras found in current cellphone 14, as these camerasare actually an array of photo-sensors. These cameras are small, fairlyinexpensive, and extremely sensitive to light in the same spectrum ofthe light emitting pixel 18. Considering such cameras as implemented foruse as a photo-sensor 16 in accordance with the present invention, itwould not require several-million light collecting pixels in an array asfound in cameras, but only require one light collecting pixel. As aresult, all the details associated with making a light collecting pixelarray may be obviated, while the same chemistry and integrated circuitfabricating techniques may be employed to essentially make one largelight collecting pixel.

While a photo-sensor 16 is disclosed in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention, it is appreciated other sensorscapable of capturing or measuring “light”—electromagnetic energy—couldbe used in accordance with the present invention. As will be appreciatedbased upon the following disclosure, the core of the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 involves the use of the light emitting pixels 18of the display screen 12 as the energy source, and those emitters arelimited to “light”.

However, and considering the fact that some LED and LCD panels used indisplay screens 12 emit significant UV or infrared light, the sensor 16would not have to operate in the “visible” spectrum but could operate inthe UV or infrared domain. These elements are used in identifyingfingerprint friction ridges 104 and fingerprint valleys 106.

The light emitting pixel array 20 provides an adjustable and movable (indiscrete steps) source of illumination used to illuminate differentareas of the fingerprint 100. Light from a light emitting pixel 18 isreflected differently if a light emitting pixel 18 is under afingerprint friction ridge 104 (see FIG. 4) or fingerprint valley 106(see FIG. 3). The transparent cover 34 acts as a medium to transfer theenergy from the reflections to the photo-sensor 16. The light emittingpixels 18 are illuminated in sequence, and the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 records the resultant varying energy pulsesassociated with each light emitting pixel 18 to construct a model orimage of the fingerprint 100. A computer program 22 operating on amicroprocessor 24 is required to record the energy pulses from thephoto-sensor 16 and construct an image or model of the fingerprint 100.

In particular, the functional elements of the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 include an array 20 of light emitting pixels 18 and a displaydriver 26 directing the light emitting pixels 18 of the display screen12 to illuminate. The remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 also includesa microprocessor 24 in communication with the display driver 26 (as wellas other components of the cellphone 14). By communicating with thedisplay driver 26, the microprocessor 24 “knows” the location of thelight emitting pixel 18 being illuminated and the specific time at whichthe illumination occurs. As will be fully appreciated based upon thefollowing disclosure, the light emitting pixels 18 may be illuminatedindividually or in groups upon command from the display driver 26 andthe microprocessor 24. One or more photo-sensors 16 are mounted adjacentthe array 20 of light emitting pixels 18. The photo-sensors 16 arepositioned so as to receive the energy reflected or emitted from theinteraction of the illumination from the light emitting pixel 18 and thefingerprint ridge 104 or fingerprint valley 106 of the fingerprint 100directly above the light emitting pixel 18. Based upon energy reflectedas a result of the interaction of the light emitting pixel 18 emissionwith a fingerprint, which is ultimately detected by the photo-sensor 16,the photo-sensor 16 generates a signal that is sent to an A/D converter28 that converts the analog signal generated by the photo-sensor 16 to adigital signal. The digital signal is transmitted to the microprocessor24. With the information regarding the light emitting pixel 18illuminated and the signal generated by the photo-sensor 16, themicroprocessor 24 sequentially processes and combines the digitallocation of the light emitting pixel 18, and intensity data from the A/Dconverter 28 (and photo-sensor 16) to create an image 52. Thereafter,the image 52 generated by the microprocessor 24 is stored within amemory 30 of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10.

In accordance with one embodiment, the recording elements of the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10 can be the microprocessor 24 and memory 30of the cellphone 14 (watch, computer or other device) into which theremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 is integrated. It is however,appreciated that a dedicated data microprocessor (or micro-controller),or other dedicated device might be used in conjunction with the remotesensing fingerprint reader. That is, the remote sensing fingerprintreader may be packaged as an “embedded module” with a good deal of thebasic processing power built into a closed system and sold as a “unit”which would then be integrated into the cellphone. Embedded modules suchas this are attractive to system builders because they often save timeand complexity when integrating a new function into an existing device.

The processing and recording of the data in accordance with the presentinvention is accomplished in the following manner. With the action oflighting each light emitting pixel 18, a minimum of two pieces ofinformation are delivered to the processing unit and stored. The firstpiece of information is the location of the light emitting pixel 18 thatwas illuminated (index number or x-y coordinates (see FIGS. 3 and 4)).The second piece of information is the amount of energy reaching thephoto-sensor 16. These two pieces of information are collected at themicroprocessor 24 for a range of light emitting pixel 18 locations, anda digital map is constructed having numbers in an array that correspondto the amount of energy received by the photo-sensor 16 at each lightemitting pixel 18 location. Because the energy levels striking thephoto-sensor 16 are different when a light emitting pixel 18 is under a“ridge” 104 than when a light emitting pixel 18 is under a “valley” 106the map will have some values higher and some lower. Looked at in thewhole, the array of light emitting pixel data will correspond directlyto an image 52 of a fingerprint 100 showing the locations of the ridges104 and valleys 106.

Once this image 52 is created and stored in memory 30, the remainingexercises of fingerprint analysis, extraction, and matching arecommonplace. There are a variety of public and proprietary methods usedto identify an individual based on a fingerprint “map” or “image”. Theoutput of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 will be compatiblewith all known fingerprint matching and rejection systems.

Specifically, the photo-sensor 16 will output a voltage to an A/Dconverter 28. The A/D converter 28 will provide a digital data signal tothe microprocessor 24 of the unit in which the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 is being used. The microprocessor 24 may furthermanipulate the information. There are many existing algorithms in therealm of “digital image processing” to enhance digital data comprisingan image for increased clarity, contrast, or other purposes. Eventually,the microprocessor 24 (or micro-controller), or dedicated device, willdirect the storage of the image 52 information in memory 30 so that theinformation can be recalled for further manipulation or to be used foridentification.

It is appreciated concepts underlying the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 may be implemented in a variety of devices where a displayscreen 12 is employed, and where quick and easy access to fingerprintreadings are desired. Understanding this fact, the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 is described herein in conjunction with acellphone 14. Implementation of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10into a cellphone 14 would require the addition of a photo-sensor 16about the perimeter of the display screen 12 of the cellphone 14, andsuch a photo-sensor 16 would preferably be added to the edge 32 of theexisting transparent cover 34 of the cell phone. Such an implementationwould also require modification of the cellphone's microprocessor 24 toaccommodate the processing of information in accordance with the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10. With this in mind, the output from thephoto-sensor 16 must be recorded and associated with each light emittingpixel 18 to form an image or map. This is a fairly typical A/Dconversion and data manipulation process.

While it is appreciated a display screen 12 including a light emittingpixel array 20 covered by a transparent cover 34 and at least onephoto-sensor 16 are required elements of the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10, it is further appreciated additional elements could be addedto guide the signal (light) to the photo-sensor 16. With this in mind, acellphone 14 maker desiring to implement the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 would add a photo-sensor 16 at the perimeter of the displayscreen 12, add the appropriate electronics to do the common A/Dconversion if necessary, program the display driver 26 to illuminate thelight emitting pixels 18 one at a time, and create a program to assemblethe digital information into an image or model. From that point, thesoftware, matching algorithms and applications will operate as they dotoday. For example, a system such as that disclosed in Jain A. K., HongL., Pankanti S., Bolle R., An identity-authentication system usingfingerprints, Proc. IEEE 85 (9) pp: 1364-1388, 1997, which isincorporated herein by reference, may be use in accordance with thepresent invention. Jain describes a basic algorithm for identifyingminutia in an image of a fingerprint and using the minutia pattern touniquely identify the source (person) of the fingerprint. Similaralgorithms are presently used in smartphones that have a fingerprintreader as part of the phone.

More particularly, the scanning illumination used in accordance withremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 is created by activating the arrayof light emitting pixels 18 (such as the individual OLEDs (organiclight-emitting diode) on a display screen 12 of a cellphone 14) onelight emitting pixel 18 at a time. The light from each light emittingpixel 18 is sequentially projected onto the region of the fingerprint100 in close proximity to the light emitting pixel 18, and the reflectedand re-radiated energy is measured by the photo-sensor 16 to create adigitally generated scan of the fingerprint 100 of finger 102. Takingadvantage of the directionality of the OLED screen light emitting pixels18 when placed under a transparent glass cover 34 commonly used inconjunction with cellphones 14, the image of the display screen 12 maybe projected onto the finger simply by placing the OLED display screen12 into close proximity of the finger 102. By using one or morephoto-sensors 16 attached to the perimeter (or edge) 32 of thetransparent cover 34 to detect light trapped by TIR in the transparentcover 34, the OLED display screen 12 can be used to generate afingerprint image.

While the following description discusses implementation of the remotesensing fingerprint reader using an OLED display screen, it isappreciated any pixel-based screen technology that provides discreteillumination sources may be used, such as, but not limited to, LiquidCrystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode (LED), Plasma Display Panel(PDP), Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), etc. may be used in accordance with thepresent invention.

By illuminating the light emitting pixels 18 of the pixel array 20 oneat a time, the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 allows for thecreation of a true one-to-one model or image of the fingerprint 100 whena finger 102 is placed anywhere on the active area of the internallyilluminated display screen 12. Instead of illuminating the full fingerwith a common light source and capturing a full image of the print usinga digital camera chip, as is discussed above in the Background of theInvention, the illumination is scanned across the fingerprint, one lightemitting pixel at a time, in rows and columns and the reflected andre-radiated energy is measured and saved at each point of illumination.From this energy map, a model or image of the fingerprint can berecreated.

With reference to FIG. 5, illumination from the single light emittingpixel 18 is focused on a small spot on the fingerprint 100 by a lens 55and all the light that is reflected and re-radiated from that spot iscaptured by the photo-sensor 16. As the illuminated light emitting pixel18 is changed to different positions relative to the finger 102, theintensity of the reflected and re-radiated light changes. The intensityand/or color of the reflected and re-radiated light vary depending onwhether the illuminated light emitting pixel 18 is located at a frictionridge 104 or at a valley 106 between ridges 104. A full model or imageof the fingerprint 100 is recreated by recording the energy levelcaptured at the x-y coordinates of each corresponding illuminated lightemitting pixel 18. The resultant image can be manipulated similar to anyother digital fingerprint scan and/or plotted on a computer screen (orphone screen) in a similar manner as described in U.S. Pat. No.4,553,837, entitled “ROLL FINGERPRINT PROCESSING APPARATUS,” by DanielH. Marcus in 1983, which is incorporated herein by reference.

An advantage of creating the image by scanning the illuminated lightemitting pixels 18 over the fingerprint 100 in this low-profileconfiguration is that the point of view of the resultant image is takenfrom the illuminated light emitting pixel 18 location rather than thesensor 16 location. Any geometric distortion is, therefore, limited toonly the accuracy of the x-y coordinates taken at each sample point. Ifthe transparent layer 34 is very thin, the light emanating from the LCDor OLED light emitting pixels 18 illuminates only a small area above thetransparent layer 34, so the focusing requirements of the lens may beminimal or the lens may be removed altogether.

Use of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 with an LCD or OLEDlight emitting pixel array 20, a transparent cover 34 and a fixedlypositioned photo-sensor 16 provides a remote sensing fingerprint reader10 with no moving parts, no geometric distortion, and true one-to-onerepresentation of the fingerprint. The complexity is decreased, and in atypical modification of a cellphone 14 would minimally require theaddition of one photo-sensor 16. Furthermore, there is no sensor-basedlimit to the true size of the fingerprint image captured. The limit isthe size of the display screen 12—typically several times larger than asingle fingerprint. Even in the small form factor screens used in atypical smartwatch, the sensor 16 will be larger than the finger in mostcases (the full size of the display in the watch face). For larger formfactors like a cellphone 14 (or tablet, phablet, PC, etc.), it ispossible to capture images of multiple fingers in one user action. Thisgreatly increases the overall accuracy of the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 through not only more fingerprint data, but also exploitingthe geometric relationship among the fingers.

The operation of creating an image of a fingerprint is shown in FIGS. 6to 9. In FIG. 6, the illumination of a light emitting pixel 18 is shownwhen no finger is in place. Some of the light from the light emittingpixel 18 is captured within the transparent cover 34 and may beprojected directly to the sensor 16 shown at the right. Additional lightis conveyed by total internal reflection and makes its way to thephoto-sensor 16. Some energy is refracted through the top surface 35 ofthe transparent cover 34 and is lost.

When a finger 102 is placed in contact with the transparent cover 34,some of the light illuminates the ridge 104 of the fingerprint 100 asshown in FIG. 7. The light rays that illuminate the finger ridge 104cause the ridge 104 to reflect and re-radiate the light, broadcastinglight into the transparent cover 34 in all directions. The rays in FIG.8 represent the combined light from both the illuminating light emittingpixel 18 and the light reflected and re-radiated from the interactionwith the fingerprint ridge 104. Note the higher number of interactionsat the photo-sensor 16 on the right.

FIG. 9 shows reflections and re-radiation from a light source that isnot positioned directly under a friction ridge (that is, a valley 106).In this case, the light dispersal is different than the situation when aridge is in close proximity to the source. This results in a differentlevel of energy reaching the photo-sensor 16. In this illustration, notethe relatively fewer rays striking the photo-sensor 16 compared to FIG.8.

In practice, the energy level received at the photo-sensor 16 in thecase of the illumination being directly under a ridge 104 may be higheror lower than the energy conveyed when the source is under a valley 106.The increase or decrease depends on the optical properties of the glassof the transparent cover 34, illumination spectrum, source dispersion,coating used on the contact surfaces, and other optical properties.Those details can be selected to optimize the performance against themetrics of interest. The important phenomenon is that the resultanttotal reflected energy will be different depending on whether the sourceis under a ridge 104 or a valley 106 and whether the activated energyemitting pixel 18 is under a ridge 104 or a valley 106.

In the operation of collecting an image of the fingerprint 100, theentire display screen 12 can be scanned, or in a limited scanning area54 (see FIGS. 15 and 16 as discussed below in greater detail). Touchsensors 80 in the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 can be used tosense where the finger is in contact with the display screen 12, and theremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 can direct the scan to sequentiallyactivate the energy emitting pixels 18 in a scanning area 44 that islocal to the point of contact. The device can direct the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 process to begin when the touch sensors or touchscreen reports that a finger 102 has touched the display.

Although the disclosed embodiments relate to implementation with atransparent cover composed of flat glass, the principle applies to flator curved glass (see FIG. 5). As, the reflected and re-radiated lighttravels through the glass, it is reflected internally to some degreeregardless of the glass curvature. If the glass is curved (eitherdramatically as in the Galaxy S6 edge or more subtly as in other phones,watches, and devices), most of the light will continue to be trapped inthe glass through partial reflection and TIR effects and will ultimatelyreach a photo-sensor 16 or photo-sensors around the perimeter of thedisplay screen 12.

Similarly, the fingerprint can be read directly on a curved section ofthe transparent cover 34 with this concept. In fact, the curved surfacemay be a preferred location to capture the fingerprint model or imagebecause in some contemporary cellphone designs the curved sections ofthe display near the edges of the device—and therefore in closeproximity to a photo-sensor.

Additionally, the invention is not limited to reading a singlefingerprint. Multiple fingerprints can be read in one operation byscanning the illumination over a larger area, or scanning in multipleareas under each fingerprint. The position of each important area can bedetermined by the touch sensors 80 incorporated into many devices.

The photo-sensor 16 need not be positioned at the “edge” of thetransparent cover 34. A three-dimensional, transparent structure 40 canbe added to the surface of the glass to allow energy to be redirected toa more convenient location. For example, the embodiments disclosed withreference to FIGS. 10 to 12 show an example of a small energy directingstructure 40 in the shape of a wedge that can be placed onto the glasstop surface 35 of the transparent cover 34 of a cellphone 14. The energydirecting structure 40 includes optics 42 that allow for reflection ofenergy coming from the display screen 12 to one or more photo-sensors 16attached to the wedge 40. There are at least two reasons to employ suchan embodiment. One implementation would be a built-in energythree-dimensional, transparent structure that carries the signal to apreferential location for the photo-sensor within the phone or device.All of these elements are really small, so even if the three-dimensionalstructure is only a mm or two, it would allow the photo-sensor 16 to be2× or 3× larger—still very small, but potentially less expensive or moresensitive. Additionally, the three-dimensional transparent structuremight be a more complicated shape that directs the light to one of theexisting cameras that are built into the cellphone. The camera wouldthen become a dual use device—acting also as the photo-sensor 16 andpotentially the A/D converter thereby eliminating the need for thoseelements altogether.

It is appreciated the use of such an energy directing structure 40 willrequire the passage of light through the transparent cover 34 and intothe input 43 of the energy directing structure 40. The use of such anenergy directing structure 40 also requires the adhesive attachment tothe top surface 35 of the transparent cover 34 of the display screen 12.With this in mind, an optical adhesive 45 that will defeat the TIReffects under the energy directing structure 40 is used to secure theinput 43 to the top surface 35 of the transparent cover 34. A parasiticdevice that measures energy changes through the faces of the glass canbe used when there is an advantage in the physical implementation (suchas retro-fitting existing devices). The photo-sensor 16 need not bepositioned at the “edge” of the transparent cover 34. Such as device isshown in FIGS. 10 and 11 which discloses a small energy directingstructure 40 that can be placed onto the glass top surface 35 of thetransparent cover 34 of a cellphone 14. The energy directing structure40 includes optics 42 that allow for reflection of energy coming fromthe display screen 12 to one or more photo-sensors 16 contained with thehousing 44 of the energy directing structure 40.

There are two reasons to employ such an embodiment. One is to retrofitan old cellphone 14. In that case, and with reference to FIG. 12,someone would build a photo-sensor 16 into the energy directing wedgeand attach a cable that plugs into a USB linked 46 to a microprocessor24 that ultimately performs that calculations discussed above. Thesecond implementation would be a built-in energy directing structurethat is “upside down”—making the energy directing structure 40 sink intothe cellphone 14 instead of rising above the top surface. Additionally,it is appreciated the energy directing structure 40 might be a morecomplicated shape that directs the light to one of the existing camerasthat are built into the cellphone. The camera would then become a dualuse device—acting also as the photo-sensor for the energy directingwedge thereby eliminating the need for a photo-sensor altogether.

For typical cellphone OLED screens the light emitting pixels 18 areilluminated by the display drivers 26 to the level desired one at a timeduring a refresh. Display driver 26 technology has evolved continuallyfrom simple sequential on-and-hold strategies over a uniformly litbacklight plane, too sophisticated on/off discrete timing of each lightemitting pixel 18 within the bulk timing of one full refresh cycle ofthe display. This is often implemented in concert with on/off andvariable brightness cycles of the illumination plane (in display typesthat use back-lighting) with variation of the brightness planecontrolled over the entire device, or in regions, and even to the pixellevel. Many innovative and effective technologies and strategies havebeen developed in order to achieve better balance, contrast, anduniformity in the illuminated screen image. Much of this sophisticationin display control and lighting strategies can be used to enhanceimplementations of the present invention.

Previously, we have described a method of using the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 concept wherein each light emitting pixel 18 isturned on for a brief time while the energy is recorded at the photosensor 16, then the light emitting pixel 18 is turned off in preparationfor the next light emitting pixel 18 to be sampled. In the most basicconfiguration, each light emitting pixel 18 is not turned off, butremains “on” through the entire process of recording the image 52. Eachother light emitting pixel 18 is illuminated in succession. The lastlight emitting pixel 18 of the screen 12 remains on for the timeremaining before the next refresh cycle begins. This is an accumulatedillumination model where the sensor 16 sees increasing energy with eachlight emitting pixel 18 that is turned on. The increase in energy to thesensor 16 will vary depending on whether the light emitting pixel 18 isunder a fingerprint ridge or a valley. Thus the differential of thepower curve will show which light emitting pixels 18 are on and whichare off and the image or model can be formed.

Simulation Results A simulation can be made to estimate the signalprofile for a single scanned line across a finger having 3 fingerprintridges in contact with the glass. FIG. 13 shows the configuration in thepresence of moderate reflections, significant attenuation and variableambient light noise.

Light intensity from the source light emitting pixels 18 is assumed tobe 100 (normalized to represent 100%). The average ambient light isassumed to be 100× higher at a magnitude of 10,000. The variability ofthe ambient light at each light emitting pixel 18 sample (for adelta-time of −2×10−⁶ sec) is taken to be 0.1%. The attenuation of thesignal is 1% per light emitting pixel 18 (relative to the next closerlight emitting pixel 18) as the light emitting pixels 18 become moredistant from the sensor 16.

The resultant profile in FIG. 13A shows the incident energy profile ifthe individual light emitting pixels 18 are illuminated in sequence andleft “on” for the entire cycle. Notice the line appears straight. Thesignal appears to be masked by the increasing energy and by theoverwhelming strength of the ambient component.

To extract the signal, for each light emitting pixel 18 (n=1 to 36) theenergy at light emitting pixel n−1 is subtracted from the energy atlight emitting pixel n, we get the graph shown in FIG. 13B. The profileshowing the presence and absence of fingerprint ridges in contact withthe glass is easily revealed.

The accumulated round-off error in this method is minimal because eachreading is taken independent of the previous reading. Each value is aproduct of two direct measurements, and one arithmetic operation. Theonly complication is the dynamic range of the sensor 16. It may requiresensitivity up to 15 db. Small sensors with this capability arecommercially available. The capability is driven in part by the digitalcamera market and the semi-conductor based sensors that have beendeveloped in both CCD and CMOS with high quantum efficiency. Manycurrent digital cameras (including cell-phone cameras) have millions ofsensors with this order of sensitivity in small pick-up areas limited bythe desired resolution and overall digital sensor size. For example,“New Imaging Technologies” in Verrieres le Buisson, France offersdigital sensors with more than 140 db dynamic range. A single large areasensor 16 using these technologies can have remarkably high dynamicrange relative to the requirements of this invention.

FIG. 13C shows the incident energy profile at the sensor 16 for a devicein which the individual light emitting pixels 18 are switched on thenoff, at each location. The simulated energy profile is identical to theaccumulated-adjusted version. In fact, the true signal strength is notdifferent, but implementation of the remote sensing fingerprint reader10 has the advantage that each pulse of energy can be measured from acommon baseline. No subtractions are required to extract the signal, andthe dynamic range requirements of the sensor 16 are greatly reduced.

Notice in all cases, the significant step changes in the incident energyare easily discernable even in the presence of accumulating energy,variable noise, and significant attenuation. For light emitting pixels18 that are not centered directly below ridge or valley—such lightemitting pixels 18 can be considered “half” on or off. The side of thelight emitting pixel 18 that is “on” can be determined by observing thestate of at the adjacent light emitting pixels 18. This allows the useof interpolation to increase the resolution in the image 52 in a similarmanner that touch sensitive panels use a limited number of sensors toachieve relatively high resolutions.

Sensor Efficiency Enhancement

It is appreciated one issue facing practical application of the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10 is improving the image quality of thefingerprint image without introducing distortions to the image that mayprevent a faithful duplication of the fingerprint. Fundamentally, thisboils down to improving the signal to noise ratio (abbreviated SNR orS/N). As those skilled in the art will appreciate, signal-to-noise ratiois a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level ofa desired signal to the level of background noise. It is defined as theratio of signal power to the noise power, often expressed in decibels.While S/R is commonly quoted for electrical signals, it can be appliedto any form of signal (such as isotope levels in an ice core orbiochemical signaling between cells).

In the case of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10, S/N is ameasure of the clarity of the fingerprint image as it is created pixelby pixel. Improvements to the S/N ratio can be achieved by increasingthe relative strength of the signal over the noise as recorded at thephoto-sensor 16. In the present case, the source of the signal energy isa light emitting pixel 16 or an array 20 of light emitting pixels 18making up the display screen 12. Thus, the S/N ratio of the fingerprintimage can be improved by adding more energy to the initial signal andalso by encouraging more of the signal to reach the photo-sensor 16 thatreads the signal. By reducing or eliminating random noise the image canbe clarified. For instance, and with reference to FIG. 14, a filter 56can be incorporated with the photo-sensor 16 to prevent unwanted energyfrom ambient noise or other sources from entering the photo-sensor 16.In the simulation section, significant ambient random noise is modelled,and several methods of minimizing noise are discussed below.

While it is appreciated all real measurements are disturbed by noiseincluding, but not limited to, electronic noise and external events thataffect the measured phenomenon (for example, wind, vibrations,variations of temperature, variations of humidity, etc.), the presentremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 will likely be highly susceptibleto ambient light.

The following describes signal collection methods and apparatusesimproving the transmission of the signals, created by a remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 as described above, from the light emitting pixels18 (or array 20 of light emitting pixels 18), that is, the source, tothe photo-sensor 16, that is, the detector. In understanding thisembodiment for improving the transmission of signals from the lightemitting pixels 18 (or array 20 of light emitting pixels 18) to thephoto-sensor 16 it is important to appreciate that the light emittingpixel array 20 provides an adjustable and movable (in discrete steps)source of illumination used to illuminate different areas of thefingerprint 100. Light from a light emitting pixel 18 is reflecteddifferently if a light emitting pixel 18 is under a fingerprint frictionridge 104 or fingerprint valley 106. The transparent cover 34 acts as amedium to transfer the energy from the reflections to the photo-sensor16. The light emitting pixels 18 are illuminated in sequence, and theremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 records the resultant varyingenergy pulses associated with each light emitting pixel 18 to constructa model or image of the fingerprint 100. A program 22 is required torecord the energy pulses from the photo-sensor 16 and construct an image52 (or model) of the fingerprint 100. In order to enhance thefingerprint image 52 to allow identification of minutia that can be usedto identify the person associated with the fingerprint 100, the signalreceived by the photo-sensor 16 is improved without distorting the imageby reducing the portion of the signal that is lost as the signal travelsfrom the light emitting pixels 18 (or array 20 of light emitting pixels18) to the photo-sensor(s) 16.

This is achieved in various ways. In accordance with one embodiment, andwith reference to FIG. 20, a reflective pixel substrate 80 may beemployed as a support for the array 20 of light emitting pixels 18. As aresult, the space between sub-pixels of a light emitting pixel 18 can bereflective in the frequencies of interest. By reflecting the importantenergy back into the transmission medium rather than absorbing it in thesubstrate 80, more signal energy is available to enter thephoto-photo-sensor 16.

In accordance with another embodiment, and with reference to FIGS. 15and 16, the photo-sensor 16 is positioned near the location to be usedto sample the fingerprint. In accordance with such an embodiment, theremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 identifies a location on thedisplay screen 12 that the finger should be placed, that is, thescanning area 54, and focus the fingerprint scanning on only that area.Rather than scanning potentially millions of pixels on the full displayscreen 12, by localizing the scan the remote sensing fingerprint reader10 can focus the scan on only a few thousand light emitting pixels 18.The number of active energy emitting pixels 18 is minimized, and thedata transmission requirements of the sensor and system are minimized.This increases the S/N, requires less sensor dynamic range, reducespower, reduces time, reduces computing requirements, etc.

The remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 directs the user to place thefinger relatively near the photo-sensor(s) 16 to improve the fidelity ofthe signals. The signal differential between ridges 104 and valleys 106will be strongest when the area of the display screen 12 being surveyedis near a photo-sensor 16. This may be critical in adverse conditionswhere ambient noise is objectionably high. In this situation, the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10 can direct the user to preferentiallyplace the finger 102 near the photo-sensor 16 to improve the clarity andstrength of the signal. For instance, if the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 is made with only one photo-sensor 16 near the right edge ofthe display screen 12 (see FIG. 16), then that photo-sensor 16 would becapable of detecting fingerprint ridges 104 and valleys 106 from afinger 102 placed anywhere on the display screen 12. However, thephoto-sensor 16 will receive a stronger signal if the finger 102 isplaced very near the right edge of the display screen 12. By directingthe user to place the finger 102 near the edge of the display screen 12,or even half-on-half-off the edge of the display screen 12 (directlyover the photo-sensor 16), the photo-sensor 16 will receive a strongersignal. That will allow the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 to bemade with photo-sensor(s) 16 that have a design or market advantage. Forinstance, the sensors may be less expensive or beneficial to thephysical package (thinner, lighter, smaller, etc.). If the systemdirects the user to place the finger very near the edge of the displayscreen, or even partly off the edge of the display screen (partiallyover the sensor), the sensor will receive a stronger signal, and thefinger will act as a shield against ambient light near the sensor.

With this in mind, it is appreciated the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 may be equipped with multiple photo-sensors ensure there is aphoto-sensor close to several different touch locations. For example,photo-sensors can be mounted on both the right and left sides of thedisplay screen to more efficiently and conveniently accommodate right-and left-handed users. Placing photo-sensors on the top or bottom of thedisplay screen may accommodate large, or small hands or users who areaccustomed to using a “home-button” for fingerprint recognition. Withphoto-photo-sensors on top and bottom edges of the display screen,efficient sensing locations are provided for devices that have nodedicated “top” or “bottom”. The signal transmission efficiency may beimproved by requiring the touch point to be near a corner where thefinger can be placed near photo-sensors 16 on two adjacent edges. Thismay be particularly useful in situations where the illumination ispolarized.

The using of multiple discrete photo-sensors around the perimeter of thetransparent glass cover to simultaneously collect the reflected orre-radiated energy offers several opportunities for efficient collectionof the energy compared to a single photo-sensor. Multiple photo-sensorscan be used with a temporal filter to improve the S/N. If the finger isplaced near one photo-sensor and far away from another, the photo-sensornearer the finger will receive the signal first, and the opposingphoto-sensor will receive a similar signal after some delay. Because thelocation of the finger relative to the photo-sensors is known by theremote sensing fingerprint reader, the timing of the signals arrival tothe different photo-sensors can be accurately predicted. Thecharacteristics of the signal (such as amplitude, frequency, dwell time)can be measured at each photo-sensor 16 and compared to a base line“signature” signal or the two signals can be compared to each other toadditively amplify the signal and potentially cancel or ignore noisecomponents that originate from sources other than the location of thefinger.

It is also contemplated to add a continuous photo-sensor 16 around theperimeter of the transparent glass cover, for example, Thin FilmPhotovoltaic technology would be one way to implement such anembodiment. The relatively larger area achieved by the provision of acontinuous photo-sensor 16 will collect more of the signal, and theopportunity to cover the entire perimeter will be sure not to miss anylocally stronger signal energies exiting the transmission layer. Nearlyall the energy from the illumination interaction will be collected.

It is also contemplated possible to create reflective surfacesselectively around the perimeter of the transmission layer to redirectsignal energy back into the transmitting medium (that is, the lightemitting pixel or pixel array) until the energy escapes toward thephoto-sensor. This allows the photo-sensor 16 to capture signal energythat would otherwise be lost. There are multiple commercially availablemethods for creating a mirror surface on substrates that are transparentto wavelengths of interest; for example, applying a silver coating withbonding agents to help adhesion to the glass, and protective layers toresist oxidation and damage.

It is also contemplated one might add a photo-collector along the edgesof the transparent glass cover to gather all energy to one or a fewphoto-sensors. This would be, essentially, a “light pipe” around theedges of the transmission plane, or even on the face of the transmissionplane. All the energy coming to the edges or the face collector of thetransparent glass cover would insert into the light pipe (orphoto-collector) and travel to one or more remotely locatedphoto-sensors.

It is also contemplated to use a full-sheet photo-sensor in or under thedisplay screen. This differs from the previously described remotesensing fingerprint reader in that the photo-sensor is not locatedremotely at the perimeter. However, the basic principle of operation isthe same—using the sequential illumination of the light emitting pixelsto illuminate small parts of the fingerprint. Having the full areaphoto-sensor allows the remote sensing fingerprint reader to pick up theenergy from the first reflection of the light emitting pixel.

Still further, and similar to the embodiment described above, an array60 of photo-sensors 16 can be placed under the display screen 12 orintegrated into the display screen 12 (see FIGS. 17 and 18). There areother optical photo-sensors that attempt to take a fingerprint under thecover glass of a phone, watch or other display screen equipped device.One significant challenge is to create photo-sensors at 500 per inchresolution, and to train each photo-sensor 16 to observe energy onlyfrom directly above the photo-sensor 16—essentially a very narrow fieldof view. Bringing the photo-sensors 16 close to the surface demands thatthe glass be thin and that can compromise the robustness of the device.A popular option used by IDEX and other developers is to create lensesor channels to control the light dispersion. This can be achieved withadvanced materials (clear substrates or IR transparent substrates forinstance), but these steps induce compromises to other aspects of thedisplay. None of these approaches have reached volumeproduction—principally because of the compromises required in the designmake large scale implementation impractical.

In the method of the present invention, by using the timing of thesequential illumination of the display pixels, the photo-sensor 16 arraywill preferentially detect the energy reflected, re-radiated from anarea on the display screen 12 that is close to the “source” rather thanclose to the photo-sensor 16. This solves several key problems. It is nolonger necessary to place the photo-sensor 16 close to the touchsurface. The photo-sensor 16 array need not interfere with the visualperformance of the display—the photo-sensor 16 can be in front of theactive display screen, integrated into the display screen, or behind thedisplay screen). Lensing can be used to focus the energy from thepixels, but no lensing or focusing is required for the photo-sensors—thephoto-sensors need only to detect energy amplitude and/or frequency, notdirection. Such an implementation would take advantage of themicroprocessor 24 to perform the necessary calculations.

An array 60 of photo-sensors 16 spread across the area of the displayscreen 12 for a remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 has the advantagethat the detection can be localized to isolate noise. That is, theremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 can record energy only from thephoto-sensors 16 under or near the light emitting pixel 16 being used toilluminate a part of the finger. By the same rational the array ofphoto-photo-sensors 16 would increase the signal strength because thephoto-sensors 16 are relatively close to the source illumination.Furthermore, it is not necessary to have a photo-sensor 16 associatedwith every pixel. Each photo-sensor 16 can monitor the activity ofdozens, hundreds, or thousands of nearby pixels. If the photo-sensors 16are placed in or around the light emitting pixel array 20, they must beprotected from directly receiving light from the light emitting pixels18. This can be as simple as positioning the photo-photo-sensors 16where the light from light emitting pixels 18 cannot directly enter, orproviding shielding between the illuminating light emitting pixels 18and the photo-photo-sensor 16.

Signal Fidelity Enhancement

The light emitting pixel array 20 of the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 provides an adjustable and movable (in discrete steps) sourceof illumination used to illuminate different areas of the fingerprint.Light from a light emitting pixel 18 is reflected differently if a lightemitting pixel 18 is under a fingerprint friction ridge or fingerprintvalley. The transparent cover 34 acts as a medium to transfer the energyfrom the reflections to the photo-sensor 16. The light emitting pixels18 are illuminated in sequence, and the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 records the resultant varying energy pulses associated witheach light emitting pixel 18 to construct a model or image of thefingerprint. A program is required to record the energy pulses from thephoto-sensor 16 and construct an image or model of the fingerprint.

In order to enhance the fingerprint image to allow identification ofminutia that can be used to identify the person associated with thefingerprint, the signal received by the photo-sensor 16 can be improvedwithout distorting the image by increasing the signal strength and byimproving the signal transmission. In accordance with one embodimentthis is achieved through the provision of overdrive light emittingpixels 18. Some display drivers limit the light emitting pixelbrightness to avoid damage to the light emitting pixel elements andmaterials. The potential for damage to the light emitting pixel may betime-dependent for some materials—that is, the higher energies are notdetrimental if held for a short time. Overheating is a common example.In accordance with the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10, however,the pulse of a single light emitting pixel 18 can be much faster thanhuman perception which would be an uncommon use for a visual display.This unusual use of the display screen 12 opens the possibility to allowmuch higher energy to be used safely (especially if turning on/off).Alternatively, within the display pixel array of the cellphone 14 orother device, and as briefly discussed above, a secondary set of lightemitting pixels 70 can be interspersed amongst the primary lightemitting pixels 18, 18 a, 18 b, 18 c. The secondary set of lightemitting pixels 70 are dedicated to the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 and designed specifically to allow higher energies withoutexcessive damage or degradation, while the primary light emitting pixelsare charged with the display functions of the display screen 12 (seeFIG. 23). With the foregoing in mind, signal fidelity may be enhanced ina variety of ways will remaining within the spirit of the presentinvention. With the exception of those embodiments where additionalfigures the provided, these enhancements are achieved using calculationand processing performed by the microprocessor described 24 describedabove.

In accordance with such an embodiment, sequential AOI (Areas ofInterest) refinement is performed to achieve the goals of the presentinvention. After a complete fingerprint area has been read and analyzed,the AOI can be identified—these might be light emitting pixels 18expected to be under ridges or near ridge edges or near minutiae, forinstance. The specific AOI will depend on the methods being used toidentify features in the fingerprint. However they are defined, anadditional scanning operation or operations can then be focused on onlythe light emitting pixels 18 (or sub-pixels) that are near the Areas ofInterest (AOI). For instance, in the secondary scan, one option forrefinement would be to illuminate only areas suspected to be nearminutiae and re-analyze image to increase the clarity of the features inthat specific area.

In accordance with another embodiment, Sequential Cluster Refinement isperformed to achieve the goals of the present invention. In accordancewith such a methodology, a “coarse” image in a first pass is created byilluminating groups of light emitting pixels 18 in a cluster or grid(e.g. 2×2, 3×3) to present a stronger signal to the photo-sensor 16 atthe sacrifice of a lower resolution. If a finer resolution is required,a second pass can be made with smaller clusters (and consequently ahigher resolution), and a 3rd pass to further refine, and so forth. Thesecondary passes can be made selectively to focus on areas of interest.

Still further, signal fidelity may be enhanced by illuminating eachlight emitting pixel 18 such that the illumination is focused onto asmall area on the touch plane 35 (that is, the top surface 35 of thetransparent cover 34 that is ultimately touched by a user of the presentremote sensing fingerprint reader 10) above the array 20 of lightemitting pixels 18. This will increase the amount of energy delivered tothe specific point on the fingerprint that is being sampled (increasethe signal energy) and reduce the energy being delivered to areas thatare not under evaluation (decrease noise energy). The focusing techniqueis done in a way so that it quickly diverges after leaving the touchplane 35—thereby providing the user a wide viewing angle. Referring toFIG. 21, a simple implementation in a contemporary smartphone includesthe introduce of micro-lenses 48 at each light emitting pixel 18 orgroup of light emitting pixels 18 that have a focal length approximatelyequivalent to the distance from the light emitting pixel 18 to the touchplan on the opposite side of the transparent glass cover 34 used as thetransmission medium. With reference to FIGS. 22 and 27, control of thelight may also be achieved by providing occlusion members 49 around thelight emitting pixel 18. The occlusion members block energy thatotherwise would be illuminating a larger area. Furthermore, theocclusion members can be made reflective and shaped to direct the extraenergy toward the smaller target area on the touch plane 35.

To achieve a wider field of view in the display screen 12, the focallength can be designed to be slightly shorter than the distance to thetouch plane 35. Non-optimal focusing of the illumination may stillprovide a significant benefit to the energy efficiency in the area beingsampled.

Signal fidelity may also be enhanced by concentrating the signaldetection on changes in the colors that are preferably reflected frominteraction with the fingerprint. For instance, in RGB color space, theflesh tones are typically higher in Red than in Green and Blue. Red isparticularly dominant and may be 40% more than Blue or Green, thoughBlue and Green may differ by 5% or more. The remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 focuses on changes particularly in the Red part of thespectrum—knowing that the signal (and SNR) will be strongest in Red. Toimprove the fidelity even more, the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10can locally and dynamically determine the optimal signal frequencies ofinterest by doing a first-pass scan and recording the average reflectedcolor components of the fingerprint as it is placed on the touch plane35. This calibration pass needs only to determine the average color inthe area of interest (not at each light emitting pixel 18 of theillumination source). To make this measurement, the remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 can ensure all the light emitting pixels 18 in thearea of interest are illuminated and measure the spectrum of thereflected and/or re-radiated energy. Further refinements can be made byestimating the likely fraction of light emitting pixels 18 in thescanning area that are reflecting/re-radiating ridges and the fractionthat are reflecting/re-radiating fingerprint valleys and using this infoto fine-tune the portion of the energy being used to construct thefingerprint.

Further still, the resolution of the sample area can be increased byusing sub-pixels 18 a, 18 b, 18 c. Referring to FIG. 17, each lightemitting pixel 18 in a typical full-color display is comprised ofsub-pixels, such as, red sub-pixel 18 a, green sub-pixel 18 b and bluesub-pixel 18 c. When white light is used as a source, the location ofthe source can be assumed to be the center of the group of sub-pixels.Alternatively, a single color of sub-pixel can be turned on to give aslightly shifted image. In FIG. 17 each whole light emitting pixel 18 ismade up of two green sub-pixels 18 b (they illuminate together) with ared sub-pixel 18 a and blue sub-pixel 18 c slightly below. The red andblue sub-pixels 18 a, 18 c alternate left and right. If one uses onlythe green sub-pixels 18 b, the source x-y location, and therefore theimage captured, will shift slightly up and to the left from the “white”image. If one uses red sub-pixels 18 a, the x-y location of the sourceis slightly left and down on the top row and slightly right and down onthe second row. For blue sub-pixels 18 c, the x-y location of the sourceis slightly right and down on the top row and slightly left and down onthe second row. The net result of a composite image taken with eachcolor independently, and then aligned according to the known sub-pixellocations will have twice the overall resolution of the “white” image.

In accordance with yet another embodiment, the area of interest can bedivided into segments and each segment measured independently to improvethe signal quality and potentially reduce the dynamic range requirementsof the photo-sensors 16. Because the scanning rate is fast relative tohuman perception (typically 1/60th of a second for the full screen), andthe fingerprint recognition rate requirement for humans is much longer(as much as a full second in some devices), the scanned area can bedivided into several smaller, more manageable segments that can bescanned one at a time. Multiple smaller scans will reduce the dynamicrange requirements of the photo-sensor 16 and reduce opportunities fornoise to enter the system. For example: If the goal of the device is tocollect a fingerprint model or image that is 4 mm×9 mm (@500 ppi)—that'sroughly 14,000 light emitting pixel 18 s. Under an accumulatedillumination profile (where each light emitting pixel 18 is turned onand left “on” through the sensing process), the photo-sensor 16 musthave the ability to detect at least 14,000 different energy levels. Ifthe system can allow ½ sec for a full scan, then the device can dividethe area to be scanned into 30 segments with each segment having lessthan 500 light emitting pixels 18. In this case, the photo-sensor 16needs only to discern 500 different energy levels. That's 8-bits ofprecision compared to 14-bits required for the un-segmented case.

Where a special light emitting pixels (that is, secondary light emittingpixels) 70 are built into the display screen 12 specifically for theremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 as discussed above, and in additionto the light emitting pixels of the display screen 12 that are used forconventional display operations, the special light emitting pixels 70can be more optimally designed for the remote sensing fingerprint reader10. Specifically, they can operate safely at higher energies to producestronger signals. They can be narrowly focused to ensure only a smallpart of the finger is being illuminated. They can operate in a uniquewavelength that is resistant to noise, or non-disruptive to otherperformance goals, or convenient for any economic or functional reasons.There are various options for achieving such a construction, forexample, the array of the special light emitting pixels 70 can co-existwith the light emitting pixels of the display screen 12 that are usedfor conventional display operations by being be built in the samematerials and layers, the array of the special light emitting pixels 70can be in a new layer above, below, or intermingled with the lightemitting pixels of the display screen 12 that are used for conventionaldisplay operations, or the array of the special light emitting pixels 70can be built completely separate from the display screen (that is, madeas an independent device that operates with or without the presence of adisplay altogether). For example, and with reference to FIG. 24 afingerprint reader is disclosed which does not function as a display butmerely includes an array 20 of energy emitting pixels 18 below atransparent cover 34 of the screen 12.

Temporal Enhancement

In order to enhance the fingerprint image to allow identification ofminutia that can be used to identify the person associated with thefingerprint, noise on the signal can be removed without distorting theimage through the use of appropriate filters as disclosed below. Withthe exception of those embodiments where additional figures theprovided, these enhancements are achieved using calculation andprocessing performed by the microprocessor described 24 described above.

In accordance with one embodiment, and with precise timing of the lightemitting pixels 18 on the display screen 12, the equivalent of a lock-inamplifier can be created by filtering the signal based on the timing ofthe light from the light emitting pixel 18 and ignoring other incidentenergy that is not time-sequenced with the source illumination. To someextent this would address all sources of noise including ambient light.

Filtering may also be achieved through the use of over samplingtechniques. In accordance with such an embodiment, the area of thedisplay screen 12 to be scanned is scanned multiple times. Thephoto-sensor 16 monitors the signal continuously or intermittentlyduring each sample period. Since the signal is periodic and the noise israndom, it is possible to enhance the SNR by averaging the measurement.This is done by simply taking more than one image and combining them.Alternatively the on-time can be increased allowing more signal samplesto be acquired. In this case the noise goes down as the square root ofthe number of averaged samples.

The remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 can observe ambient lightphysically near (but not under) the finger during the reading of theimage, at or near the time of the fingerprint read, and filter, cancel,or compensate for the spectrum coming from ambient light incident on thedisplay screen 12. One possibility for implementing such an embodimentis to repurpose a camera that is built into the device to monitoreternal ambient noise, in particular the portion of ambient light thatresides in the narrow bands of the RGB light emitting pixels 18. Theambient light can be averaged or measured over time to filter cyclicnoise—e.g. ambient light from electrical or electronic sources runningat 60-cycle pulses.

Because the display screen 12 of many cellphones is made of RGB lightemitting pixels 18 each of which produces a single color in a narrowbandwidth, the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 can balance, cancel,or normalize the effects of ambient light by driving the RGB componentsin a complimentary fashion across the unused part of the display screen12 effectively overwhelming random ambient noise with a background ofknown RGB components. Ambient light that does not match the narrow bandRGB components of the induced background can be ignored.

Similarly, the color of the fingerprint's reflected energy can bemonitored over time to detect life (differences in blood-flow/color). Inthis case, malicious counterfeit “fingerprints” are treated similarly toother forms of noise and eliminated or used to recognize a “chop” orother identification device other than a fingerprint.

A coating can also be applied to the top of the display screen thatreflects a significant portion (if not all) ambient light. This preventsambient light from entering the glass and reduces the noise reaching thephoto-sensor 16. The reflective coating may also improve the internalreflections and increase the signal strength to the photo-sensor 16. Ifthe reflective coating could be defeated by physical contact (so theridges of the fingerprint will introduce a differentreflection/re-radiation characteristic) the coating would increase thepower ratio between a ridge and a valley in a fingerprint, increasingthe signal power. The characteristic of being defeated by physicalcontact is not atypical of reflective coatings. Overall this results ina higher S/N. The reflective coating and sensing can operate in anon-visible part of the spectrum to minimize the impact on the regularuse of the display device.

It is further appreciated that the application of reflective coatingshas broader applications in the field. In a similar fingerprint readingdevice, specifically an IR reflective coating on the outer surface canreflect light away from the photo-sensor that is not desired in theimage. For instance, in the “Hybrid” sensor from GingyTech, an IRcoating on the top surface of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10will improve the fidelity of the analog signal to the CMOS sensor. Thisis true whether it be the transparent glass cover or the cover glass inan “underglass” application. If the top surface of the transparent coveris coated (or selectively coated) with IR reflective coating, then thecontrast between the locations of the Frictions Ridge contact and thenon-contacted areas will be accentuated. The reflective coating willreflect away a large percentage of the IR energy in the valleys wherethe friction ridges are not in contact with the coating. At the pointsof contact between the friction ridges and the reflective coating, thereflective properties of the coating are defeated, and the IR energywill come through to the CMOS sensor.

Still further, and still considering various coatings that might be usedto enhance the operation of the remote sensing fingerprint reader, alight absorbing or occlusion layer can be added above the transparentglass cover to prevent ambient light from entering the transparent glasscover and adding noise to the system. Electrochromic glass has theadvantage that it can be turned off under the location of the finger,preventing ambient light from entering the glass everywhere except underthe finger so as not to interfere with the fingerprint signal. E-ink(microencapsulated electrophoretic display) is another potentialcandidate to block external light. For the occlusion concept to besuccessful, a portion of the display screen must allow the fingerprintto change the internal reflective properties of the transmission glassas the light sources are sequentially illuminated under ridges andvalleys. The reflectivity will change naturally in the occlusion layerby because of altered physical/optical phenomenon at the point ofphysical contact with the occlusion panel, but the changes may not besufficient to create a strong signal. With generally continuousocclusion planes (like Electrochromics) it may be necessary to segmentthe display screen into regions that can be switched on or offseparately, or to pre-define a specific region can be left “open” allthe time to allow the fingerprint to be read at that location only. Fornormally re-configurable panels like E-ink, the complexity of the fullyaddressable display screen can be reduced to a few segments orquadrants, or a pre-defined open area can be the single location forreading a fingerprint. The occlusive properties of the e-ink or otherocclusion layer can be modified to block only the frequencies not ofinterest to the remote sensing fingerprint reader operation.

Alternatively, a continuous occlusion layer (a coating that blocks mostlight) may be applied to the top surface of the display screen toprevent most of the ambient light penetrated into the display screen andincrease noise. If the occlusion layer has high pass design for thenarrow band RGB of the screen light emitting pixels (in other words,passes the single frequency red light and green light and blue lightthat is created by the light emitting pixels, but blocks all otherlight) it would have little if any effect on the display screen(allowing the RGB wavelengths through) but would prevent ambient lightthat is outside of the RGB bandwidths. A significant component ofambient light consists of wavelengths that are outside of the RGBbandwidths.

Backlight modulation may also be used to achieve topical enhancement inaccordance with the present invention. As is well appreciated by thoseskilled in the art LCD technology is widely used in displays. LCDs donot create light intrinsically, but rely on “backlights” to provide theillumination for the display. These backlights can be made by in severalways Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), Electroluminescent panels (ELPs),cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), etc. In the classicimplementation, the backlight provides a continuous, evenly distributedillumination across the display panel in order to help create uniform,natural-looking images. Some technologies (LEDs in particular) areamenable to illuminating different parts of the display with differentintensities and/or colors. This technology was developed to improvecontrast. Because most LCD technology is not capable of blocking 100% ofthe light in the areas of a display that are supposed to be dark, theblack areas would appear “gray”. Also, some LCDs emit white light at anon-optimal color temperature—this can limit the color gamut that can bereproduced, and the colors can be perceived by humans differently in thepresence of a different color temperature of the ambient light. ModernLED backlights are built with groups of discrete red/green/blue diodeswhose energy can be modified dynamically to match the display intent andambient surroundings. Many of these displays are designed so thatdifferent regions of the display can be made brighter or darker to matchthe content of the image being displayed. For instance, if an image isto be shown of a dark sky above a brightly lit town, the “town” area ofthe screen may be illuminated with normal LED backlighting brightness,while behind the “dark sky” of the image, the backlight illuminationintensity may be significantly reduced to allow that part of the screento appear very dark, or black.

In accordance with the present invention, the modulation can apply tothe entire backlight, to regions, or to individual light emittingpixels. The S/N ratio may be further improved if the backlighting isturned completely off momentarily in regions not being used to samplethe fingerprint. The off-cycle need only occur while the screen isdriving the light emitting pixels 18 used to sample the fingerprint.

The duration of off-cycle can be very quick (below human perception) orslower as necessary to optimize performance.

Turning off light emitting pixels 18 after use is another way in whichto provide for topical enhancements. If the display driver turns offeach illumination light emitting pixel 18 after a short duration, itallows the photo-sensor 16 to sample every light emitting pixel 18 froma common, lower baseline energy state rather than accumulating incidentlight energy over time and measuring the change in energy as a result ofthe n+1 light emitting pixel 18 illumination. If single light emittingpixels 18 cannot practically be turned off sequentially within a screenrefresh cycle, advantages still can be had by turning off light emittingpixels 18 in groups—e.g. one scan-line at a time. This is similar to thesegmentation and clustering concept described above, but in this case,the clustering is performed within 1 refresh cycle.

Still further, an absorptive light emitting pixel substrate can be usedin accordance with the remote sensing fingerprint reader. The substratecarrying the light emitting pixels is made to absorb ambient light orlight produced by the remote sensing fingerprint reader that is notimportant to the fingerprint detection—specifically, energy known to bein unwanted parts of the spectrum. This may be achieved passively in theconstruction of the substrate, and it may be possible to actively alterthe characteristics of the substrate during a fingerprint read. Thesubstrate could contain electrochromic, e-ink, or other materials withchangeable optical characteristics.

Signature Analysis might also be used in accordance with the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10. Specific characteristics of the signal(such as amplitude, frequency, dwell time) may be relatively constantand therefor create a predictable “signature” of a true signal.Signature Analysis is widely used in manufacturing to monitorconsistence in a process and ensure quality in finished products.Signatures or patterns also can be used to identify true signal data inthe presence of noise. The information arriving at the photo-sensor 16can be analyzed to look for the telltale characteristics of a lightemitting pixel 18-driven data generated in accordance with the presentinvention, or compared to a baseline “signature”. The information isrecorded for the fingerprint only when an appropriate signature isdetected.

In accordance with another alternative embodiment, an array ofmicro-lenses could be placed above the illumination array of lightemitting pixels to direct the light to the appropriate locations on thefingerprint. In that case, with proper lensing, the illumination arraycan be larger than the fingerprint so an illumination array withrelatively coarse dots per inch (OPI) could be used and the illuminationfocused into a smaller area increasing the OPI of the system.

Key advantages of the present invention over prior art devices forfull-screen fingerprint scanning, are this device does not require anarray of sensors, and the array of emitters are already part of everysmart-phone. Thus, with the addition of only a simple photo-sensor tothe display screen 12 the entire display can be used as a fingerprintsensor.

As discussed above, there are many transactions performed where thesecurity is less than desired. For example, most credit cardtransactions are performed with little security against fraud—with thenumber of times a credit card number needs to be canceled and re-issuedtestifying to how often fraud is committed. In addition to financialtransaction secure entry is subject to security violations. The presentremote sensing fingerprint reader 10 addresses concerns as credit cardsare placed with cellphone transactions, because it can take a physicallylarger and more reliable fingerprint, makes sure that the device(cellphone) was activated by the person who's identification is inquestion—but it doesn't assure that the cell phone is actually inpossession of the proper person—any more than a picture identificationor credit card.

In additionally to fingerprint reading, the remote sensing fingerprintreader 10 is capable of detecting/measuring the color, contours, andprofile of any object where it is in contact with a display screen 12.The remote sensing fingerprint reader 10 is, in its most basic form ameans of detecting surface features and colors. As an authenticationdevice, it can be used with other body parts that have unique shapes,textures, or colors (toes have toe-prints). It can be use with a custom“stamp” or signature. It would detect embossed features on flexiblesubstrates like paper.

For instance, and with reference to FIGS. 25 and 26, it is possible touse the scanning system underlying the present invention to function astouch position reader 11 by detecting the position of an object touchingthe display screen 12 and therefore locate the position of anything(such as a finger) touching the transparent cover 34 of the displayscreen 12. This is achieved by monitoring the reflected energy receivedat the photo-sensors 16 at the edge 32 of the transparent cover 34 whilescanning the entire display screen 12. The reflected energy received bythe photo-sensor 16 from the light emitting pixels 18 of the array 20that are under the finger (see FIG. 25) would be different from thereflected energy received from the light emitting pixels 18 elsewhere inthe display screen 12 (see FIG. 26) which can be used to identify thelocation of the light emitting pixels 18 underneath the finger, and,consequently the location of the finger's touch point. Furthermore, thiscan be done during the normal operation of the display screen 12 withoutcompromising visual operation of display screen 12. In addition, such atouch position reader 11 would use similar functional elements asdescribed above with regard to remote sensing fingerprint reader 10, forexample, A/D convert 28, microprocessor 24, memory 30 and driver 26.Alternatively, the operation would be essentially invisible to the userby operating the emitters near or beyond the limits of humanperception—if the emitters are illuminated quickly or if the system usesnon-visible sources such as IR. IR can be emitted from special lightemitting pixels 18 integrated into the display, or from another layer inthe display stack. Hiding the scan in the time domain is naturallyachieved if the scanning cycle is fast and/or the scanning is done in anon-accumulating manner—that is, the light emitting pixels 18 areswitched off (or back to the desired display color) after use as asource for the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10.

Additionally, the scanning system will be able to detect the profile ofobjects other than fingerprints. These can be other tactile biometricindicators (palm prints, etc.) or deliberately made “keys”.

The system can be made to be sensitive to the color of the objecttouching the screen. This can further expand the applications of thescreen-scan operation to detect colored objects and/or allow additionaldiscrimination of biometric data (such as the color of skin).

With the ability to detect color, and the rapid scan rate, it ispossible to detect heartbeat through the subtle changes in reflected andre-radiated color in the fingerprint with each heartbeat. This may beaccomplished during the fingerprint detection process or in anadditional color-sensitive scan after the fingerprint has been verified.In a dedicated scan, the heartbeat may be measured through the netreflections and re-radiation over a larger area to enhance the signalstrength. This can be used as a “stand-alone” detector of life. For adevice such as a smart watch or FitBit health device the display screenon the device is large enough for remote sensing fingerprint reader 10while also measuring the wearer's pulse independent from the remotesensing fingerprint reader 10. Thus remote sensing fingerprint reader 10can detect the pulse of the fingerprint and match it in beat and phaseto the pulse of the person who is wearing the device. Additionally, thepulse can be continuously monitored to assure that the device was notremoved and replaced on another person—thus assuring that the personidentified by the device is, in fact, the person presently wearing thedevice. This is a much greater degree of security for financial or entrytransactions than is presently available be any other means.

Having the ability to read a fingerprint anywhere on the display screen12 opens up the opportunity for several application programs or appsthat are not presently available. The operation of the display screen 12is not presently optimized for reading a fingerprint. The remote sensingfingerprint reader 10 operation is typically controlled by a separatechip that is accessible by software—so the area where the finger istouching the screen can be scanned at intensities, colors and scan ratesthat are optimized for reading a fingerprint, and different from thoseused for display. In less optimal conditions, bright ambient light forexample, an application can direct the user to place the finger on alocation that is optimized for fingerprint reading to improve thefunctionality of the remote sensing fingerprint reader 10. In addition,when a fingerprint read is desired an app could be written thatilluminates an area around the area optimized for reading thefingerprint, drawing the user to place the finger on the location thatis optimized for fingerprint reading. After the fingerprint is read thearea can be released back to be used for display.

Apps for preparing the screen to read a fingerprint can thus controlwhere the finger is placed on the screen and can use the remainingscreen for operations that will use the fingerprint for identification.Examples of operations that use a fingerprint identification arefinancial transactions such as Apple Wallet and similar credit cardapplications. When the fingerprint is read, the unused screen can beused to display a transaction code, such as a bar code, that is onlyused for one transaction (is only good for a limited time, for example30 seconds) increasing security for purchasing transactions. Appswritten to use the device screen as a fingerprint reader in order toenhance security in transactions requiring operator identification wouldbe covered under this invention.

Examples of such apps would be, in addition to financial transactions,physical security operations such as access control systems (replacingidentification card swipe systems with cellphone 14 reader or Blue Toothenabled systems, or replacing garage door openers with cellphones). Thecellphone 14 may become the key that operates a person's car or opensthe house or starts the air conditioning or opens the gun safe. Whencoupled with a cellphone 14, secure operations can be performed remotely(from another continent). Blue Tooth enabled operations can be performedat a convenient distance, opening doors as they are approached once thecellphone 14 verifies the identity of the person holding it.

Apps allowing the cellphone 14 to replace the identification swipe cardfor personal identification for secure installations will requirefingerprint sensors that can meet the FBI requirements specified in NISTSP800-76 (PIV) which can only be accomplished with fingerprint sensingareas that are much larger (12.8 mm×16.5 mm) than sensors presently inuse on the front face of cellphone 14 s. Only rear mounted sensors(which are unpopular with users) and full screen sensing as described inthis patent can meet the FBI requirements. Once identificationreliability for fingerprint sensors on a cellphone 14 reaches this levelthe cellphone 14 can be used for other secure operations, such asidentification tokens used by banking institutions for financialtransactions.

While the preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it willbe understood that there is no intent to limit the invention by suchdisclosure, but rather, it is intended to cover all modifications andalternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of theinvention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A fingerprint reader, comprising: a displayscreen composed of an array of energy emitting pixels covered by atransparent cover; a plurality of photo-sensors spread across an area ofthe display screen, the plurality of photo-sensors being located underthe display screen for measuring energy intensity levels from the arrayof energy emitting pixels; a display driver directing the array ofenergy emitting pixels of the display screen to illuminate in asequence; a microprocessor in communication with the display driver andthe at least one sensor, wherein the microprocessor knows the locationof the energy emitting pixel being illuminated and the specific time atwhich the illumination occurs; wherein when at least one finger isplaced on the transparent cover and the display driver is activated,energy from each energy emitting pixel sequentially illuminated isreflected off the at least one finger to at least one of the pluralityof photo-sensors located nearest the illuminated energy emitting pixel,the energy received at each of the plurality of photo-sensors is atdifferent intensity levels depending upon the ridges and valleys of theat least one finger, each of the plurality of photo-sensors sends asignal to the microprocessor regarding the energy intensity level, fromwhich the microprocessor creates a fingerprint image as the energyemitting pixels are sequentially illuminated.
 2. The fingerprint readeraccording claim 1, further including a memory for storing thefingerprint image created by the microprocessor.
 3. The fingerprintreader according to claim 1, further including a touch sensor used tolocate placement of the at least one finger on the transparent cover. 4.The fingerprint reader according to claim 1, further including lenses orocclusion features to facilitate optimal illumination of the at leastone finger.
 5. The fingerprint reader according to claim 1, whereinseveral neighboring energy emitting pixels are illuminatedsimultaneously as a group.
 6. A fingerprint reader, comprising: adisplay screen composed of an array of energy emitting pixels covered bya transparent cover; a plurality of photo-sensors spread across an areaof the display screen, the plurality of photo-sensors being locatedwithin the display screen for measuring energy intensity levels from thearray of energy emitting pixels; a display driver directing the array ofenergy emitting pixels of the display screen to illuminate in asequence; a microprocessor in communication with the display driver andthe at least one sensor, wherein the microprocessor knows the locationof the energy emitting pixel being illuminated and the specific time atwhich the illumination occurs; wherein when at least one finger isplaced on the transparent cover and the display driver is activated,energy from each energy emitting pixel sequentially illuminated isreflected off the at least one finger to at least one of the pluralityof photo-sensors located nearest the illuminated energy emitting pixel,the energy received at each of the plurality of photo-sensors is atdifferent intensity levels depending upon the ridges and valleys of theat least one finger, each of the plurality of photo-sensors sends asignal to the microprocessor regarding the energy intensity level, fromwhich the microprocessor creates a fingerprint image as the energyemitting pixels are sequentially illuminated.